Menu

Prey of Fear

We were watching Ice Age: The Meltdown for the 500th time this week and something Sid said to Diego really struck a cord with me. I had an ‘aha’ moment.

Sid: I’m just trying to help you get over your fear of the water.Diego: Fear is for prey.Sid: Then that means the water has made you its prey.

Did you know that 10% of Australians will be affected by an anxiety disorder at some point during their life. An anxiety disorder is a little more than just being scared of something. Anxiety can be crippling for a sufferer.

It wasn’t until I wrote this post recently that I even realised that anxiety had become an issue for me. I know that must sound ridiculous but it’s true. My response to anxiety is to get angry, and so I wasn’t recognising a lot of the symptoms for what they were.

I can’t pinpoint my fear to one specific thing, it is more of a feeling than anything else. It’s the feeling that everyone in the world is staring at you and just waiting for you to fuck it all up. It’s the fear of judgement, of scrutiny. I avoid situations where there is the potential for it. Turning into a hermit, exacerbating the other symptoms that I am dealing with.

I’m exhausted from the fear. I’m exhausted from putting the mask up every day. I’m exhausted from having to deal with the bubbling cauldron of anger that my body has become. I just want to hide away.

Are you becoming prey to your fear?

Beyond Blue has some great resources and information on helplines to help you conquer the fear.

I haven’t actually been too anxious, until I had kids and the other day when hubby and I were walking along a cliff face I felt a flush of fear, same thing happened when we went 4WD and were close to death drop. It didn’t last long but I felt fleeting moments of fear and it was horrible. x

Kids can definitely increase that ‘oh shit’ feeling in us. There are times during the day when I do something and think crap I could have hurt myself there and Mr 5 would be here on his own. It definitely makes me more aware of what I’m doing.

Ah Sid can be so wise sometimes! {I do love Ice Age!}.
On to the serious bit now — great post Tegan. Anxiety is something I don’t think people understand {like most mental health problems I suppose}. People don’t realise just how badly anxiety can freeze a person and how stuck they can get. And you are spot on about it being exhausting.
I am an anxious person but it’s more of the generalised kind. Mine is not as debilitating as some of the clients I see but I have needed to get some help and try and practise mindfulness and ACT. As a kid I think I suffered from separation anxiety for a few years and later, a bit of social anxiety.

I’m doing ACT with my therapist now and honestly it’s the first time that therapy has really clicked for me. I like that it doesn’t dismiss the thoughts or try to change them too much, but acknowledges them and moves on. I find the thought changing stuff the most exhausting, so it’s nice to find something that does it almost subconsciously.

Hugs and strength to you Tegan – anxiety sucks and it’s so hard to get out of it’s grip and stop being a prey to all those negative thoughts and fears. Good that you now recognise it and can start fighting it x

Great post. Thanks for sharing. I’ve definitely become more anxious over the years, or possibly less able to manage it with everything else going on. I’ve been doing a lot of hibernating myself lately and realising that I need to schedule down time, so I can keep on top of my up time. If that makes sense.

I never thought of myself as having a problem with anxiety (depression yes), but I was remembering recently how when I was about 11 or 12 I went through a stage where I found it really hard to swallow. So I consulted Dr Google and found it was a symptom of ANXIETY! Not surprising when you think of what was going on in my life at that time …

I find anxiety makes me cranky and irritable too, it’s a beast 🙁 For Mercedes it sometimes manifests in meltdowns were she screams and hits and kicks and bashes her head against the wall, other times it makes her tearful and clingy. We’re both working hard on not letting our anxiety own us.

It’s amazing how those writers of kids movies can weave in such great adult themes and thought provoking moments. Anxiety and Depression are something that I seem to be dealing with on an almost daily basis with the teenagers I work with, I can only hope they are as strong as you are Tegan.

With social media and not ever been ‘switched off’ I can see why there is a rise in Anxiety and Depression in teenagers. Sometimes, I’m not sure if it’s strength but pure dumb luck that has gotten me to where I am today!